In fact, French names cause all sorts of problems for English speakers, not least of where to put the stress. French, of course, has no lexical stress, but it would be impossible for an English speaker to avoid stressing at least one syllable in a name. Where should that stress go?
The names of Presidents of the Fifth Republic provide a fair sample. De Gaulle was no problem: two syllables, the first has a neutral vowel in both languages, so the second was the natural choice for stress. But then Pompidou was the first of three to have three syllables. The nearest to a stressed syllable in French would be the last, as phrasal stress falls there. That would lead to Pompi’dou, and also Mitte’rrand, and Sarko’zy. None of these sounds natural in English, but interestingly, while the first two lend themselves to initial stress in English (and this was the BBC recommendation in both cases): ‘Pompidou and ‘Mitterrand, the current President seems most comfortably stressed on the second syllable: Sar’kozy. In fact, as we know, Sarkozy is not a French name at all, but Hungarian, in which language it would have been stressed on the first syllable. However, the BBC recommendation is to stress the final syllable, with the predictable result that many journalists, who are not obliged to follow the Pronunciation Unit’s advice, ignore it, and go with Sar’kozy, which is neither French nor Hungarian, and sounds the least French-like to me.
Interspersed between these three, we had Giscard d’Estaing, who fits quite well as ‘Giscard des’taing, and Chirac, whom most people stressed on the first syllable (which was the BBC recommendation), but a few who “knew better”, on the second. Americans, mindful of the fact that these are foreign names, almost invariably pronounce the letter A as a long one, so /ʃirɑːk/. They also have a tendency to stress all shortish French names on the final syllable, so mostly /ʃi’rɑːk/.
On a lighter note, Pompidou caused some childish hilarity in Norway, as “pomp i do” in Norwegian means ‘bottom in toilet’.
3 Responses for "French names - stress"
Marseilles, which I’ve just commented on in another thread, also raises a question for me in this one. Most French people I know put almost exactly equal stress on the first two syllables, and barely pronounce the final e at all (though people with a strong local accent pronounce it quite strongly). However, when I first lived here 20 years ago I noticed that a senior colleague seemed to stress the first syllable when speaking English, and I could never quite decide whether this was my ear interpreting equal stress as stress on the first syllable as I was expecting stress on the second, or whether he was trying to say it in what he regarded as a more English way.
Your comment about how Americans pronounce French names seems almost an understatement: I have long had the feeling that many Americans have a conviction that all French words are heavily stressed on the last syllable. When I first heard the molecular biologist Jacques Monod referred to as Mno I didn’t know who was meant, as most British people at that time (and probably most now as well) made the exactly opposite error of stressing the first syllable strongly: Monno.
Also on a lighter note, Vladimir Putin’s name often causes some hilarity amongst French Canadians because it is spelled “Poutine” in French.
In Canada, “poutine” is a very popular fast food comprising (your arteries are probably already clogging up) fries topped with cheese curds then smothered in gravy.
In response to JJM, of course the “obvious” French pronunciation is a no-no because of its similarity to ‘putain’.
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